Biography

Zahida Pirani is a writer, director and producer based in New York City and Los Angeles. Her short film, El Carrito, was an official selection of SXSW, AFI FEST and has won numerous awards at Academy qualifying festivals including Palm Springs ShortFest and Seattle International Film Festival. Zahida previously directed and produced the award-winning short documentary Judith: Portrait of a Street Vendor which premiered at the Queens Museum in New York and is distributed by Third World Newsreel.

Before becoming a filmmaker, Zahida worked as a community organizer and was the director of a grassroots nonprofit organization in New York City. She holds an MFA in directing from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, an M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the New School for Social Research and a B.A. from UC Berkeley in Comparative Literature and Religious Studies.

Zahida was the recipient of the 2021 Princess Grace Award in Film.
- IMDb mini biography by: Zahida Pirani